Bad Little Girl 3
by Interspark
Summary: At 352 years old, Marceline, having finally rid the world of vampires, embarks on a new quest, to reunite with a precious, old friend.
1. Chapter 1

Bad Little Girl 3

**It's trilogy time! Quick word to the wise- If you haven't read Bad Little Girl 1 and 2, I recommend that you do. The storyline will still make sense if you don't, but there are are a handful of references, character development, plus, 1 + 2 are pretty awesome. Either way, enjoy Bad Little Girl 3!**

* * *

Marceline was 352 years old and, although it had taken half a decade of searching to put her mind at ease, she had finally finished her mission to annihilate all other vampires. Although Marceline had spared a handful of them because they had had the chance to bond with her before she was able to kill them, Marceline had made them swear not to sire any more vampires, and if they weren't the type to keep their word, then she wouldn't have spared them in the first place.

Now Marceline was on a new crusade. Over a century ago, she had met someone who had changed her life, someone who was loving, sweet, brilliant and _so_ beautiful. Besides Simon, Princess Bubblegum was the closest thing Marceline had ever had to family. She had left Bubblegum to protect her and her kingdom from vampires, but now she was done, she was desperate to see her again.

Nowadays, the world was widely populated by all manner of things that could think and even talk, ranging from squishy blue people to talkative trees. For Marceline, this was a godsend, because otherwise navigating this constantly evolving world would have been virtually impossible. She had flown over two oceans alone on her vampire slaying quest.

After months of fruitless interrogation, Marceline had finally had a breakthrough. A bird she had talked to had heard of a Princess Bubblegum from a friend and that had helped finally push her in the right direction.

Marceline sped through the crystal blue sky, under a wide brimmed sunhat. She was finally getting close, more and more 'people' she spoke to had heard of Bubblegum, and finally, a cloud man had pointed her right towards her Candy Kingdom.

Suddenly, a hand clasped around her wrist. Marceline was made to stop in her tracks and she lurched forwards so far her face was almost exposed to the sun. She spun around, to see a man with grey skin and three wisps of white hair floating behind her, holding her wrist.

"Babe, where are you going?" Asked Marceline's boyfriend, Ash.

Ash was the very first person who ever asked Marceline out on a date. When Marceline was a child, she and Simon had read books in which the characters would go out on dates. Since Marceline had always expected to die without ever meeting another person, she had accepted dates to be something that existed in fiction alone. So when Ash asked her out, she had accepted in a heartbeat, even though her first impression of him hadn't been very good. That had been just over a month ago.

"Dude!" Marceline snapped testily. "Candy Kingdom! Bubblegum! This is all I've talked about for the last week!"

Ash stared at her with one eyebrow raised, like she was an idiot. "No way! Party God's throwing this huge rave in the woods near here! We gotta go to that!"

Marceline was equally gobsmacked by what Ash had said. "Bubblegum is my best friend! And I haven't seen her in over 150 years!"

"150 years!? Babe, there's no way she even remembers you!"

Marceline stared in disbelief. That had really stung. "You know what Ash? Just go to your party. Meet me at Bubblegum's place."

She floated away, but Ash pulled her back by her wrist again.

"No babe, you gotta come! I told a bunch of my friends that I've got a girlfriend and they don't believe me!"

Marceline stared at him, too exasperated for words. Instead, she just wrestled her hand free, and shook her head slowly, with an expression that clearly said, "You're pathetic."

With that, she turned around and flew on. In the stories Marceline had read, the couples always fell in love and lived happily ever after, so when Ash started acting like a jerk to her, she had been genuinely surprised. Sometimes Marceline had read about people in her situation, but Simon had quickly snatched those books away before she got to the end and would suggest a happier one. Clearly, he had grudgingly shared her negative opinion that she would never date.

Marceline wondered if Bubblegum had dated in the past one and a half centuries. The only people she was definitely hanging out with were the Candy People, and they were practically her children, and were made of bits of her old body! Then again, they could have come a long way since then. Either way, Marceline looked forward to hearing PB's opinion on her situation.

Moments later, a towering cream and pink structure crept over the horizon. Marceline gazed at it in silent wonder. As she approached, she realised it was a gigantic citadel. Surrounding the towers, were hundreds of colourful houses, and trees made of candyfloss. A huge, cream wall surrounded them defensively. The wall had a striped pink pattern, like the outside of a cake. Around the citadel, was a moat of red liquid and acres and acres of more candyfloss trees. It was fantastically beautiful, kind of like looking into Bubblegum's mind.

As Marceline approached, she noticed two gigantic gumball machines with arms and legs, and ice cream cone hats, sitting on the wall on each side of the kingdom, blowing giant bubbles. One of them noticed Marceline coming, stood up and stood between her and the Candy Kingdom, moments before she reached it. The gumball machine raised its arm and pointed the palm of its hand, the size of a bus, right at Marceline.

"Halt!" It bellowed, in a deep, robotic voice. "You are not permitted to enter the Candy Kingdom!"

So it really was the Candy Kingdom. Marceline hadn't been 100% sure. It was hard to believe how far Bubblegum had come from a pile of rubble in 150 years. She looked up at the gumball machine.

"I'm Bubblegum's friend!" She insisted. "She's been expecting me for fifteen decades!"

"State your name and title!" The gumball machine demanded.

"Marceline… Vampire Queen…"

The gumball machine's head rattled for a while as it processed Marceline's name. The gumballs bounced back and forth against the glass.

"You do not have an appointment. Leave a telephone number, address and message after the beep, and Princess Bubblegum will contact you at her earliest convenience… Beep."

Marceline stared at the gumball machine silently. What kind of whack job guardians had Bubblegum made? Marceline had found a working cell phone a few years back and seriously considered just doing what the guardian said, but at the end of the day, it wasn't her style.

Marceline smiled slyly at the gumball machine, then shot straight upward. As the Gumball Guardian reached to snatch her out of the air, she made a hairpin turn and dived towards its feet. The Gumball Guardian lurched forwards, after her, and as she swept under its legs, it toppled to the ground with a mighty crash.

Smirking at the flailing, screaming robot behind her, Marceline flew on into the heart of the kingdom.


	2. Chapter 2

"Everyone please calm down!" Bubblegum cried, desperately.

She had been in the middle of giving a royal speech to the Candy Kingdom, about how they didn't need to be so scared of everything, when a loud crash, accompanied by a mini-earthquake, had set them all off again. Bubblegum rested her elbows on the balcony of her bedroom and held her head in her hands as her people ran around in a panicked frenzy.

She sighed, she _really_ didn't want to have to give them a modified dose of the life-giving serum. Administering it to everyone was such a pain. Plus, of course, there was always the moral debate. As she pondered her options, she was reminded of the crash from just seconds ago. The Candy People had distracted her at the time, but what was that?

She walked into her bedroom, and returned a moment later with a pair of binoculars, covered in buttons and blinking lights. She looked through them, and saw a digital image of the town in front of her. She tweaked the controls and the buildings all disappeared, revealing the Gumball Guardian, lying face down, and flailing its limbs around like a reverse turtle.

Suddenly, Bubblegum noticed something moving at the top of the binoculars' field of vision. She looked up to see an unfocused blur, shooting towards her. Her heart skipped a beat. The binoculars showed its trajectory and Bubblegum's first thought was of a missile. With whatever it was bearing down on her, and no time to refocus the binoculars, Bubblegum dropped them and braced herself.

The thing flew into her with just enough force to knock her off her feet and into her bedroom, while being soft enough to not actually hurt her. Two skinny arms wrapped around the princess and lifted her into the air, and hugged her tightly.

"Bubblegum! It's me!" Marceline giggled.

Bubblegum stopped flinching and opened her eyes.

"Marceline!" She squealed in delight, returning her hug with one that would have suffocated any mortal. "I missed you so much!"

"I'm so glad to see you again!"

The two girls babbled at each other excitedly for several minutes. After 150 years apart, neither one of them had anything coherent or sensible to say to one another. Eventually, their excited chattering calmed down, and they resorted to breathless giggling.

Marceline shrugged off her enormous camping backpack and set it down. Bubblegum noticed for the first time what was strapped to the back of it with bungee cords.

"Is that a banjo?" She asked, interested.

"Oh… yeah." Marceline said, detaching it.

She had found it two years after slaying her last vampire. She had grudgingly accepted that her 330 year long mission might just be over, and had decided to start a new hobby. She discovered she had a flare for it almost the second she picked it up.

"Can you play me a song?" The Princess asked hopefully. "I haven't heard music for so long. None of the Candy People have any measurable hand-eye coordination yet, so they can't play."

"Oh. Sure, I guess."

Marceline had played in front of people on several occasions. She had even played at concerts a couple of times. But for some reason, playing in front of Bubblegum put butterflies in her stomach. She held up the banjo and started to strum on it. Since she had mastered the instrument, she had never played the same song twice. As she played the same handful of notes, she started to sing. In front of most people, Marceline found herself singing about trivial things, like her favourite shades of the colour red, based on taste, and what kind of monsters were the easiest to decapitate with an axe, but in front of Bubblegum, Marceline unwittingly poured out her soul.

She sang about a man who had been like a father to her, and then abandoned her, then about the jerk who she was still putting up with. She cried out about the feelings she had felt, without even realising it at the time. Then she sang about a wonderful person who made all of her bad memories worth having. Marceline stopped playing abruptly as she noticed Bubblegum staring at her, wide-eyed.

"That's… not about me… It's about this friend I have…" Marceline mumbled feebly. "You probably don't know her…"

Bubblegum nodded silently. Marceline's singing was beautiful, but seeing how embarrassed she was, Bubblegum didn't feel like she'd appreciate being complimented on it. A moment later, she decided to change the subject.

"Hey! I need to show you around!" She said, excitedly.

She took Marceline's hand and pulled her through her bedroom, like a child, wanting to show her mother a painting she'd made.

"Come look what I built!"

* * *

A few hours later, Bubblegum and Marceline walked down one of the castle's lower corridors, hand in hand. Bubblegum had shown Marceline her lab, her observatory, the kitchens, and almost every other room in the palace, and she hadn't even started on the town yet.

Marceline smiled and rubbed the back of Bubblegum's hand with her thumb. Her hand was _really_ soft. Bubblegum realised what she was doing and smiled back at her.

"You remember the last time you held my hand?" She grinned. "I was like a little kid, you were worried I was gonna wonder off. I probably would have too…"

Bubblegum smiled gratefully for everything Marceline had done for her when they had first met. Suddenly, Bubblegum's eyes widened in shock.

"Oh Glob! I can't believe I forgot to tell you! I have a new name now!"

"You're not called Bubblegum anymore?" Marceline asked, trying not to sound hurt. She had always been flattered that Bubblegum kept the name she had given her.

"I am, but most people have two names. Now I'm called _Bonnibel_ Bubblegum. No one calls me that though…" She sounded kind of sad.

"Why not?"

"The Candy People are all too scared to use my first name, so they just call me 'Princess Bubblegum'."

"Why are they scared of you…?" Marceline asked, slightly taken aback.

"They're scared of everything…" Bubblegum sighed. "The Royal Court are meeting tomorrow and I'm going to ask the King and Queen of Lumpy Space to stop opening portals in our airspace, but in the long run, I'm gonna need to fix them somehow. I can't protect them from everything that scares them…"

Marceline gazed at Bubblegum in admiration. She had the exact same maternal tone and concerned expression Simon used to have.

The two of them arrived at the palace's entrance. A number of Candy People scurried away as they saw Marceline and Bubblegum coming. Several Banana Guards stood their ground, but visibly trembled as the two girls walked past.

"Hey, do you wanna get some lunch?" Bubblegum asked. "I'm totally starving."

"Sure, sounds good." Marceline smiled.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Bubblegum and Marceline sat in a quiet café, near the palace. Bubblegum had ordered a plate of spaghetti, and Marceline had a bowl of strawberries. Several white strawberries littered the table in front of her.

"So, one of the last vamps I killed was this British dude called William." Marceline continued. Bubblegum had shown a great interest in Marceline's adventures and was hanging on her every word. "Guy was just a regular vampire but he had _crazy_ moves. And he was kinda protective of this creepy girlfriend he had… I don't think she even knew she was a vampire…"

Marceline frowned as she remembered the strange couple. She snapped out of it and grinned at Bubblegum.

"But I still never had an adventure as wild as that time with you and Kendra!"

Marceline had been talking about her life over the past century and a half for quite some time, yet she still hadn't brought up Ash. She had actually deliberately steered the conversation away from the topic of dating a couple of times, but she wasn't sure why… Although she did want Bubblegum to help her with her problem, a larger part of Marceline didn't want her to know that she had a boyfriend at all, for some reason.

"So how have things been here?" Marceline asked, trying to distract herself.

"Pretty good." Bubblegum said. "The Candy People are coming along really well, and the neighbouring kingdoms are mostly pretty nice. There's this crazy hermit guy who lives in the mountains near here who keeps trying to kidnap me, but he's pretty harmless."

As Bubblegum talked, Marceline intently watched her lips moving. Her mind wandered back 150 years, to when Bubblegum had been born from her old body and, forgetting how one was supposed to greet a friend for the first time, pressed her lips against hers. At the time, it had just been an uncomfortable breach of her personal space, but now that she loved Bubblegum, looking back on it made Marceline's heart flutter.

Marceline visibly jumped as the thought echoed around her head, and she suddenly realised it was true. She _loved_ Bubblegum? When had that happened?

Bubblegum stopped talking. "Marcy, are you ok?" She asked, concerned, having noticed Marceline's reaction to her epiphany.

Marceline jumped to her feet, bumping the table and knocking over her bowl of strawberries as she did.

"Y... Yeah, I'm fine…" She stammered. "I just realised… I've gotta go do something… Thanks for lunch! I'll see you later!"

And with that, Marceline scrambled into the air and out of the café, leaving a bewildered Princess Bubblegum to stare after her.

* * *

**What's this? A British vampire called William with a weird girlfriend? If you got that reference, I just want you to know, you're awesome.**


	3. Chapter 3

**So you know what I just remembered? CANDY PEOPLE EXPLODE WHEN THEY'RE SCARED! By that logic, the Candy Kingdom should be scattered across Lumpy Space by this point in the story. I'm gonna go ahead and assume that that was a recent, and temporary glitch that Bubblegum fixed shortly after Slumber Party Panic. I mean, the Candy People must have been scared by stuff in later episodes. The Freezer Burn Flu for example? Anyway, on with the story.**

* * *

That night, Marceline floated cross-legged in the corner of Ash's house, holding Hambo in her lap, while Ash lay on his bed, snoring loudly. Marceline had tried to sleep, but it was no use. She had done nothing but think about Bubblegum, since she left the café. Asides from that day, she had only spent a week with her, 150 years ago, but it had been the single most wonderful week of her life. Of course she was in love with her. Why had it taken her so long to realise that?

Ash's house was a decrepit shack, in the middle of nowhere. It was so filthy, it made Marceline truly grateful that she could float in the air and move things with her mind. As Ash snorted in his sleep, Marceline finally realised just how much she hated him. But of course, she had no idea how one was supposed to get out of a relationship. Ash was a jerk, but he wasn't some evil monster and she didn't particularly want to hurt him, physically or emotionally. She dearly wished he were a vampire, so she could just kill him. For a moment, she actually considered turning him, but even if she knew how to, there was always the chance that he'd become a demon-vampire like her.

Marceline sighed, and flew outside for some fresh air. This was the biggest problem she had faced in three and a half centuries, and there was no one there to help her. If Simon had been there, he would have known exactly what to say. He would have told Marceline exactly what she should do to make herself happy. And failing that, he would have been there to hold her and make it _seem_ like everything would be alright.

In the past, Marceline had gone years at a time, without so much as speaking a word, simply because she had no one to talk to, yet at that moment, she had never felt more alone.

* * *

In the Candy Kingdom, sleep wasn't coming to Princess Bubblegum any easier. She sat at the desk in her bedroom in a pair of stripy, pink pyjamas, idly poking a pencil at a group of tiny, yellow Candy People she had made the previous day.

She was completely dumfounded. Marceline had come back after so long, and she seemed to be enjoying their reunion as much as she was. Then, she had just up and left, seemingly for no reason, and she had left Bubblegum feeling _very_ self-conscious. What had she said or done to offend her? Bubblegum thought back, had she unwittingly made an insensitive comment about vampires or something? All she remembered talking about, before Marceline left, was her plans to start collecting taxes from the Candy People. She might have been boring her, but that hardly warranted such a swift exit.

Bubblegum sighed and poked at one of the tiny Candy People's bellies and it flailed its arms around and giggled. Bubblegum loved the Candy People with all her heart, but sometimes she felt like a single parent, and craved the company of other intelligent adults. There were always Ooo's other members of royalty, but she didn't really consider any of them her friends. Not like Marceline.

There was a light, hesitant knock on Bubblegum's window, and she spun around, hopefully. She ran over to draw the curtains and a weight lifted of her shoulders as she revealed Marceline, floating on the other side. She opened the window and let her in.

"Hey Princess…" She said, apologetically. "I'm sorry for earlier…"

Bubblegum took Marceline's hands and pulled her down to her eye level.

"What happened? Are you ok?"

Marceline frowned at her, and didn't answer. "Bubblegum… I came back because I needed to tell you something…"

Bubblegum waited anxiously, a flicker of panic in her eyes.

Marceline desperately tried to make the words come out of her mouth. 'I love you. I love you. I love you.' But every time she tried, a hundred terrible scenarios flashed before her eyes.

"_I love you."_

"_Awww, Marceline I only like you as a friend..."_

"_I love you."_

"_Oh Marceline, you know I'm far too busy for romance."_

"_I love you."_

"_Hahaha… Marceline… That's just ridiculous…"_

"Spit it out, girl!" Bubblegum pleaded. She too, was clearly dreading what Marceline was about to say.

Marceline squeezed her eyes shut and rapidly forced the words out of her mouth. "BUBBLEGUM I REALLY LIKE YOU!"

There was a pause, which was excruciating for both girls. Marceline felt like she was eroding from the inside, while Bubblegum took her turn at very carefully choosing a sentence.

"Marceline… I like you too!"

Marceline groaned. "No Bubblegum! I _LIKE_ you!" She repeated, with as much emphasis as she could manage.

Without another word, Bubblegum stepped forward, held Marceline's head and kissed her deeply. Fireworks erupted inside Marceline's head. She swelled with joy, the likes of which she had never felt. A couple of minutes later, Bubblegum leant away, but Marceline wrapped her arms around the Princess and kissed her back. As Marceline's lips pressed delicately against Bubblegum's and her hands ran down her silky smooth hair, there wasn't a thought in her head that wasn't about her. Any plans of telling Bubblegum about Ash had evaporated from her mind. At that point, if someone had said 'Ash' to her, it would have taken her a moment to even remember who he was. A moment later though, she got a much better reminder than his name.

"What… THE FUDGE!?"

Marceline and Bubblegum spun around, to see Ash standing in the open window, his expression burning with livid fury.

"Who the Glob is this!?" He demanded, pointing at Bubblegum.

"Marceline?" Bubblegum prompted, sharing Ash's curiosity, but not his aggression.

Marceline spun back and forth, alternating from Bubblegum to Ash. She was directly in the metaphorical spotlight and words completely eluded her. She had once got up on stage in front of 500 people at a concert, and a rather cruel prankster had disintegrated her guitar just as she was about to start playing. The feeling of humiliated horror was remarkably similar, only a hundred times worse. Eventually, Ash got tired of waiting.

"That's MY girlfriend!" He snapped at PB, pointing at Marceline.

"Dude… I'm sorry. I had no idea…" Bubblegum said quietly. She looked at Marceline as she spoke, betrayal was clear in her eyes and voice.

Bubblegum's expression was like a stake to Marceline's heart. She didn't care what Ash thought, but she cursed her own apathy and impatience. As sensational as kissing Bubblegum had been, she still wished she had waited until she had dumped Ash.

"Ash, just get out!" Marceline snapped. "I'll talk to you later…"

"Maybe you should leave too, Marceline." Bubblegum said, sadly. "It's pretty late, and I need to be up for the Royal Court tomorrow morning…"

Ash and Bubblegum stared at Marceline expectantly. After a glance at Ash, Marceline stepped closer to the Princess and whispered so Ash couldn't hear her.

"I was gonna break up with him…" Marceline knew her excuse was feeble, but she was desperate for Bubblegum to forgive her.

"Just… Both of you get out!" Princess Bubblegum demanded. "Or I'll call the Banana Guards!"

Marceline was devastated. She wanted to stay and try to explain herself to Bubblegum, but she doubted that her threat was insincere. With tears shining in her eyes, Marceline pushed past Ash and flew into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

Bubblegum sat at the end of a large, rectangular table, at the heart of the Candy Kingdom's palace. All around the table, kings, queens, princes and princesses from all over Ooo were taking their seats. Peppermint Butler stood by the door, loudly announcing each person as they walked, slithered or floated inside.

"Announcing the Meadow Princess!" He cried, as a green girl with flowing hair, made of grass and dotted with flowers walked gracefully inside and took her seat.

A moment later, a hologram of an elegant, beautiful mermaid flickered into life above one of the chairs, wearing a crown similar to ones Bubblegum and the other members of royalty were wearing. With his eyes on the door, Peppermint Butler didn't notice her for a couple of minutes. When he did turn around, he yelped in surprise.

"A…Announcing the Ocean Princess!" He cried, sounding frightened and apologetic.

If the Ocean Princess minded not being announced as she had 'come in' then she didn't show it. Eventually, everyone had arrived. Princess Bubblegum stood up and quietly cleared her throat. The quiet chatter around the room subsided immediately. Bubblegum consulted a small pile of papers in front of her, and then looked up to address the room. Unnoticed by anyone else in the room, as Princess Bubblegum spoke, a shadowy figure pulled Peppermint Butler back towards the doorway, with a hand over his mouth to prevent him from screaming, and began whispering in his ear.

"I hereby call to order, the 312th Royal Court council meeting of the Unified Kingdom's of Ooo." Bubblegum declared. "Now, first on the agenda is the continued problem with the Candy People. While I realise that how easily scared they are is an internal affair, I feel some of the neighbouring kingdoms could be more cooperative in…"

Peppermint Butler interrupted Princess Bubblegum by nervously clearing his throat.

"Excuse me… I'm terribly sorry Princess Bubblegum, but…" He suddenly switched to the confident voice he had used while announcing new arrivals. "Introducing, for the first time, Marceline, the Vampire Queen!"

There was an immediate buzz around the room.

"Vampires?"

"I thought they were extinct!"

"They have a _kingdom_ now?"

"When did this happen?"

As all heads turned to face the door, Marceline floated into the room. She had made no effort to dress for the occasion at all. She wore a pair of dark black jeans and a grotty, grey vest. She dropped into the nearest empty chair, half way down the table from Bubblegum, and rested her feet, in their red boots, onto the table, prompting several audible gasps from her neighbours. Surrounded by people sitting up straight in beautiful dresses and resplendent suits, Marceline stood out like a sore thumb.

Marceline had left Bubblegum's bedroom the previous night feeling terrible for what she had done. But before she had even left Candy Kingdom airspace, Ash had caught up with her. As he ranted at her, with his usual snide, chauvinistic drivel, Marceline realised something. Bubblegum hadn't even tried to see things from her point of view. She didn't know Ash, she had no idea what Marceline was going through, and most importantly, Bubblegum had kissed _her_! Granted, she had kissed her back but Bubblegum was hardly innocent in all of this! How dare Bubblegum be so quick to judge her?

Sitting in her chair, Marceline smiled snidely at the Princess and nodded curtly, as if to prompt her to continue with what she was saying. Scowling, Bubblegum seemed to decide to just ignore Marceline. She looked back towards her papers and opened her mouth to speak, but then changed her mind and slammed the palms of her hands on the table, angrily.

"Marceline, this is ridiculous! You're _not_ royalty!" She snapped at her.

All eyes in the room turned to face Marceline.

"Really?" Marceline said, sitting upright. "Because I seem to remember us having a problem last night, when you were all set to join my '_kingdom_' until you found out it was already occupied."

There were several stunned gasps around the room.

"Bubblegum's abdicating from the Candy Kingdom?"

"She would never do that!"

Marceline continued. "You know, if you'd given me half a second to explain myself, you'd have known that I was _planning_ to banish my people any day now."

This was accompanied by more gasps, but neither of the two girls paid them any attention.

"Well it would have been common decency to banish those citizens _before_ you extended your invitation to me." Bubblegum replied, icily.

"Oh _I _extended that invitation? You kissed me, Princess!" Marceline snapped, abandoning her kingdom metaphor.

"You could have stopped me!" Bubblegum said, defensively, although the uncertainty in her voice made it clear she saw Marceline's point.

"Oh really? You have that little faith in yourself as a kisser?" Marceline winked.

As Bubblegum recoiled in mortified shock, Marceline leant over the table and blew a kiss at her. Sitting near Bubblegum, on the opposite side of the table to Marceline, was a tiny man, made of pebbles, sitting on a pile of books so he could see above the table. He stood up angrily.

"Really! This is beyond inappropri…"

"SHUT UP!" Marceline and Bubblegum shouted, in unison.

Marceline floated up over the table and towards Bubblegum.

"Ash is a complete weinus who treats me like dirt, and I came to you for help! But all you did was kiss me and then kick me out because of how _you_ felt betrayed!" She shouted, sounding hurt.

"Oh so I'm selfish? All you cared about was sucking face with me! Way more than mine or Ash's feelings!"

"Ash is a pig! He doesn't _have_ feelings!"

Bubblegum leant forwards so her face was inches away from Marceline's. "Well maybe you just think that because you're so self-centred!"

"Really? Well why don't you go apologise to Ash for kissing 'His girl'." She made air quotes with her fingers. "Spend ten seconds with him and then tell me what a sweetheart he is!"

"Well maybe I will!" Bubblegum shouted. She got up and stormed from the room. As she passed Peppermint Butler, she snapped. "Pep But, take over!"

Looking like a man on his way to the electric chair, Peppermint Butler slowly shuffled over to the head of the large table. As he did, Marceline flew across the room, out the door and off in the opposite direction to Princess Bubblegum.

As Marceline flew down the corridor, she boiled inside. How could Bubblegum be so judgemental? Marceline had done nothing wrong! Glob, she was so annoying! And snooty! And…

Marceline sighed, who was she kidding? She didn't love Bubblegum any less than she had the previous day, and it was her own stupid hot-headedness that was keeping them apart. Well… that and Ash… Marceline shook her head, she couldn't think about him now. First, she had to apologise to Bubblegum, but how? Not with words, she was far too stubborn for that, and she accepted that. No, what she needed was a gesture… or a gift… but what did Princess Bubblegum like? As much as she loved the girl, she had to admit that she didn't exactly know her very well.

As Marceline turned a corner, she bumped into one of the Candy People with her leg. Before she could look down and apologise, the little guy took one look at her, and ran down the corridor, flailing its arms around and screaming. Suddenly, a light bulb lit up in Marceline's head. She flew down the palace's corridors like a bullet, remembering the route Bubblegum had taken her down, perfectly, and within seconds, she was outside PB's lab.

Marceline floated inside and closed the door behind her. She went around to room carefully, looking around, while trying not to touch anything. Bubblegum had shown Marceline all the fun and flashy toys she kept in her lab, but she hadn't mentioned anything about fixing the Candy People's fear problem. Still, if she was looking into it, this is where she'd keep her notes, and there was every chance Marceline could help. She knew a lot about courage, after all.

As Marceline flicked through the files in the top draw of a filing cabinet, the door opened. Marceline spun around in petrified horror, then breathed a sigh of relief when she realised it wasn't Princess Bubblegum, but a tall, blue Candy Person, wearing a white lab coat. Just like the one in the corridor, the Candy Scientist screamed and ran, as soon as he saw Marceline. Marceline shot over to the door, down the corridor and tackled him to the ground. With one arm around his mouth and the other pinning his arms to his chest, she dragged him back to the lab and shut the door behind her.

"P…p…please let me go! I'm… I'm…" The Candy Person began babbling incoherently.

Marceline sighed, and tried her best to be warm and comforting, like Bubblegum. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I just need you to show me where Bubblegum's notes are on the fear problem." She said, calmly.

The scientist babbled and sobbed like a baby, shaking his head as he did.

Marceline groaned irritably. She had hoped it wouldn't come to this. She was kind of rusty at what she was about to try. She pinned the scientist against the wall, with one hand on his forehead, and another beneath his eyes, and stared at him, her face practically touching his. As the scientist was forced to stare into Marceline's eyes, he felt his fear slowly slip away from him. Then, the room around Marceline seemed to blur and fade, followed by Marceline's face, until all he could see was two bright red eyes, piercing through a grey fog. For some reason, he felt more relaxed than he ever had before.

"You can trust me…" Came a distorted, echoing voice. "I'm Princess Bubblegum!"

Suddenly, Princess Bubblegum's lab snapped back into focus, and sure enough, the Princess stood in front of the scientist, with her hands on his face.

"Now can you please show me the notes on how to fix the Candy People's fear problem?" She asked, sweetly.

"Of… of course Princess Bubblegum!" The scientist replied, still sounding rather scared. If he was troubled by the fact that Princess Bubblegum didn't know where her own notes were, he didn't show it.

Marceline giggled. She had considered just hypnotizing all of the Candy People to force them to man up, but she doubted Bubblegum would appreciate it. Plus, just hypnotizing one person temporarily, gave her a major headache. The scientist quickly scurried across the lab and over to a table, littered with various beakers, full of colourful liquids. He pulled on one of them, revealing it to be a lever, attached to the desk, and a large panel of the wall slid back, and out of the way.

Marceline whistled, impressed. Bubblegum really took security seriously, either that or she watched too many adventure movies. Led by the scientist, she floated into the secret room. The decoration was a lot more old-fashioned than the rest of the palace. The walls were dark, grey stone, and dim, electric lights lit up areas of the room, full of pinned up sheets of paper and maps. The area that seemed to have the Princess' most attention was a large stretch, in the middle of the opposite wall. It was covered in maps of cities, and Ooo overall, which Princess Bubblegum had covered in sketches and notes. And in the very centre, was a large picture of an ancient, leather-bound book.

Marceline cringed in horror as she realised what she'd have to do, if this was what Bubblegum was really after, because there was only one person in Ooo who even had a chance of knowing where that book was, and he was a person she'd hoped to never see again.

As if the books elaborate design wasn't enough, its title was displayed in big, bold letters across the cover.

It was the Enchiridion.

* * *

**For those of you who don't know. The Ice King is the earliest known owner of the Enchiridion. In "I Remember You" he is seen holding it, pre-crown, in one of the pictures Marceline shows him.**


	5. Chapter 5

When Marceline was a kid, she would often lie in Simon's lap, and ask to see his scrapbook. While the last few pages were full of pictures of Marceline, there were scores of pages beforehand, full of pictures and newspaper clippings, documenting Simon's life and adventures. Although Marceline adored learning more about Simon's life, her favourite thing about the scrapbook was seeing pictures of the world before the war, especially the thriving cities, full of people.

One of the pictures showed Simon getting out of a car, clutching an enormous book to his chest. Although Marceline had never been very curious about that particular book, she had once asked Simon what he had done with the various artefacts he had collected over the years.

"Well Marceline, I don't like to brag, but back in the day, I had a very nice, big apartment, with a big room, just for my treasures."

* * *

Marceline frowned. The Enchiridion was probably still in Simon's gallery in his apartment, so it seemed like she was relying on the slim hope that he'd remember where he used to live. Failing that, a search of his belongings might shed some light. Even then, her first problem was still finding _him_. She hadn't seen Simon for over 70 years.

Marceline glanced over at the Candy Scientist. He was blinking and rubbing his eyes, a sign that the hypnosis was wearing off. 'Well', Marceline thought to herself, 'Couldn't hurt to ask.'

"Hey." She said to him. "You ever heard of a blue guy with powers of ice and snow? With a big white beard and a crown…"

She spotted a notepad on a table and picked it up to sketch the crown on, but before she'd even began, the scientist replied.

"Oh yeah. That's the Ice King." Marceline spun around to face him, in disbelief. "He lives in the Ice Kingdom, you can see it through the window in the lab."

Immediately, Marceline pushed past him and flew into the lab. In the distance, she saw a towering mountain of ice, surrounded by a frozen wasteland. It was in the opposite direction to the way Marceline had flown to the Candy Kingdom, which was why she hadn't noticed it before. Such a place existing so close to the warm climate of the Candy Kingdom could only be the work of Simon's crown.

Marceline frowned sadly. So it looked like she really was going to see Simon again. She had hoped never again to have to endure the company of the babbling mess he had become. Every sad, pathetic sentence he uttered was like a mockery of the wonderful person he had once been. She had only met him on two occasions since he lost his mind, and both times she had simply spoken to him for thirty seconds, realized he was as lost as ever, and then simply turned around and flown as fast as she could, for a solid day. Assuming Simon was still the 'Ice King', this would be the first time she had ever had a real conversation with him.

Marceline shrugged off her backpack and took out her umbrella, then rested her free hand on the windowsill. The sunlight outside seemed a lot more intense than usual. She was suddenly very aware that a strong wind could blow her umbrella out of her hand. Maybe she should wait until nightfall? Marceline could almost feel the embrace of her subconscious, holding her back. She stepped away from the window.

On a whim, Marceline forcefully slapped her own face.

"Come on, Marceline! Pull yourself together! You can't keep putting this off!" She snarled, under her breath.

With fire, literally burning in her eyes, Marceline sprinted across the lab and dived, gracefully out of the window, and immediately raised her umbrella. Without stopping to think about what she was doing, Marceline pointed herself at the Ice Kingdom, squeezed her eyes shut and flew on.

Feeling the wind on her face, Marceline's stomach was in knots. Her desperation to make up with Bubblegum clashed with, and just barely overruled her desire to never see Simon again. Then again, maybe she needed this. Maybe talking to the Ice King would help her accept that Simon hadn't just changed, but was totally gone.

The air around Marceline turned frigid, instantaneously. It was like she had plunged into an icy lake. She opened her eyes to see snow _everywhere_. Although it was mostly bleak and bare, she did see the occasional house or igloo, and there were snowmen and penguins dotted around irregularly.

Marceline flew towards the spire of ice in the centre, reaching high into the sky. Again, she felt herself begin to slow down, her conflicting opinions screaming inside her head. Maybe there was another way? Maybe she could just sneak in at night, and take what she needed while Simon was asleep? Marceline sighed. Deep down, she knew that, while she was seeing Simon to help her find the Enchiridion, the exact opposite was also true. She was using the Enchiridion as an excuse to see Simon. Although the frozen wasteland strongly suggested otherwise, she had to hope that he was at least a little bit better.

Marceline landed at an empty doorway at the top of the mountain. Before she approached it, she flared her nostrils and took a deep breath. The cave had the overbearing aroma that came with the negligence to clean a home regularly, like unwashed socks and stale food. Ash's shack smelled the same. As Marceline edged closer, she found herself focusing on the putrid smell. It distracted her from the anxiety building within her. Marceline was forcefully aware of the irony that events like _this_ terrified her, while she was downright comfortable when her very life was put in danger. At least in situations like that, she always knew exactly what she was supposed to do.

Marceline sheepishly stepped across the cave's threshold. Inside, various mismatched furniture sat around the outside of the room. There was a large, double bed, a gym bench with a large dumbbell in position over it, a drum kit and an old sofa. Old pizza boxes and food wrapping littered the floor and, opposite the entrance, there was another door, that seemed to lead down, deeper into the mountain's interior. Covering one wall, was a huge, empty cage, with ice bars. Marceline floated over to it. What on earth would the Ice King need a cage for? What little Marceline knew about Simon in his deranged state didn't shed any light.

"Waa!"

Taken by surprise, Marceline shot into the air, almost hitting her head on the ceiling. She breathed a sigh of relief when she looked down and saw that the source of the noise had been a tiny penguin that had snuck up on her.

"Uhhh, hey." Marceline said, as she drifted back down. "Have you seen Simon…? The Ice King?"

Marceline wasn't sure if the penguin could understand her or not. Although the rampant evolution over the past 300 years had affected most living things, there were still things in the strange, new world that were as clueless as they were before the war. The penguin's wide, unblinking eyes gave nothing away.

"Waaaa?" It quacked, flapping its flippers.

"So… he's around here somewhere…?" Marceline tried, trying to interpret the penguin's expression and body language.

"Waa! Waa!"

Suddenly, the penguin waddled over to Marceline's feet and waved its flippers up at her. Despite her situation, Marceline couldn't help but smirk. She bent down to pick the penguin up for a hug. It quacked happily as Marceline squeezed it gently, enjoying the feel of its smooth feathers on her arms. Then a voice called out, that sent instinctive shivers up Marceline's spine.

"Gunter! What's going on in here?"

Marceline spun around. Standing in the cave's doorway, holding two shopping bags, full of miscellaneous groceries, was a fat, old man, in a blue robe and a golden crown.


	6. Chapter 6

Marceline's heart felt it was being crushed by an invisible hand as panic and anxiety set in. A moment later though, she realised something wonderful, Simon had remembered her! Not her name, granted, but he realised she was the same girl who he used to look after.

"Simon…" Marceline said, warmly.

Simon flew over to Marceline and snatched the penguin from her. Marceline's fleeting good feeling shattered like glass, as she realised it was the penguin Simon had been talking to. He held it over his head, endearingly.

"Did the strange lady hurt you, Gunter?" He said, in the patronising voice one might use with a baby. "It's alright, daddy's here!"

"You replaced me… with a penguin…" Marceline barely whispered, as she collapsed to her knees. Simon heard her.

"Huh? Replaced you? I don't even know you, lady!" He turned around, shielding Gunter from her.

"Simon, it's me!" Marceline pleaded, tears welling up in her eyes.

The Ice King stared at her blankly.

"I'm Marceline! Remember back when you only put on the crown to protect us?" Marceline thought back to the last time she had met Simon. "Oh! Remember that time 70 years ago, when you fought at Wizard Battle!"

A couple of seconds later, Simon remembered. "Oh yeah! You were that crazy lady who came over for an autograph and then ran away!"

"I didn't want an…" Marceline started, but she conceded that it was no use.

"Hey, are you following me? Because you're not my type."

"What!?" Marceline gasped.

"Yeah, I'm more of a princess guy. You'd think that's picky, but there are a _lot_ of princesses around these parts."

Marceline suddenly remembered Bubblegum mentioning the crazy hermit who kept trying to kidnap her, then she glanced at the large cage. So that's what Simon was up to these days…

"Simon…" Marceline tried again. She scoured her mind for anything that might prompt him to remember something.

"My name's not Simon, anyway." The Ice King said. "I am the King OF ICE AND SNOW!"

He laughed madly and raised his hands in the air, throwing Gunter aside as he did. Suddenly, his hands glowed blue and snow began to rain down from the ceiling. As quickly as it had started, a moment later, it stopped.

"My friends call me the Ice King though. Hey! You wanna be my friend?" He asked, hopefully.

Marceline frowned at the rambling child before her, her face streaked with tears. She thought longingly of the man he had once been, and sadly, this visit had gotten her no closer to accepting the fact that he was gone. For the time being, though, she convinced herself to give it a rest.

"No dude. Now listen, I need to know where you used to live, before here." Marceline said, slowly.

"Whaa? Erm… I think I was born here." Simon offered.

Marceline groaned. "No, before the war, and the crown, you lived in an apartment!"

"An awhatment?"

Marceline rubbed her forehead irritably. She desperately wanted to just fly out of the door and leave this toxic environment, but she thought of Bubblegum, who needed her help and whose forgiveness she found herself craving.

"Ok… Do you just have some old records, or diaries or something I could look at?" She asked Simon.

"Well sure, but you can't read my diaries!" Simon snapped, defensively.

Hoping the Ice King was as stupid as he was childish, Marceline replied. "Oh… I don't want to read them… I just… love the smell of old paper!"

The Ice King stared at her with one eyebrow raised, as if pondering the request.

"I guess that's ok!" He grinned, after a while. "Follow me!"

Picking up Gunter, Simon flapped into the air with his beard and flew through the doorway in the back of his cave. Marceline followed him and gasped. On the other side, was a colossal cavern that stretched down as far as the eye could see. Pathways twisted and turned downwards, snaking across the chasm and around enormous stalagmites of ice. It almost seemed like the interior of the mountain was slightly bigger than the exterior.

Simon flew downwards, making a beeline for one of the rooms, deep down. Clearly he had every single one of the rooms in his home memorized, which didn't make Marceline feel any better about him forgetting her. Very close to the bottom of the mountain, Simon flew through a doorway and down a narrow corridor, which led him and Marceline to a large room, the walls of which were piled to the ceiling with cupboards, bureaus and filing cabinets. Scraps of paper poked out of every orifice and covered the floor.

"Mmmm, that paper sure does smell good!" Simon agreed. "This is the room where I keep all my 'the past' stuff. Knock yourself out!"

Marceline floated past him, daunted by the mass of documents to search through. Why didn't Simon just have a digital organiser, like everyone else? As Marceline sighed and flew over to the nearest cabinet to get started, she noticed Simon, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey, you wanna go see a movie or something, after this?" He asked her.

"No." Marceline replied, instantly. "You know, you can take off if you want? I can find my way out on my own."

"Huh…" Simon looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "You know what? I'll go get us some sodas." He put Gunter down on the floor. "Gunter, you stay here and play nicely with Marceline, ok?"

Marceline's head shot round to face Simon as she heard him say her name, but a second later, she remembered that she'd told him it earlier. She sighed and pulled a handful of paper out of a half-open draw. As soon as Simon left the room, she began studying them, and tossing them to the floor, once she realised they weren't helpful. She blew through hundreds of receipts, angry letters from libraries and bus timetables. Very occasionally, she found something that made her feel nostalgic, like a photograph of herself and Simon, from when she was a child, but, eager to find what she needed and get out before Simon came back, she didn't dwell on them.

"Waa! Waa!" Came Gunter's muffled quack.

"I'm busy, Gunter!" Marceline said, without turning around.

"Waaa!"

"I'm not gonna stop, if that's what you want." She opened a huge cupboard and paper rained down on her.

"WAAAAAA!"

Marceline spun around, angrily, to see Gunter hopping on the spot, as if trying to reach her, while holding a slip of paper in his beak.

"What the…" Marceline floated down and took the paper from him. "Oh my glob…"

It was an electricity bill, addressed to Simon Petrikov, with his full address written in the corner. Gleefully, she knelt down and hugged Gunter again.

"This is _awesome_ dude! Thanks!"

She gently kissed Gunter's forehead and then flew out of the record room and towards the mountain's main cavern. Before she reached it, Simon dropped down in front of her, holding a tray with three soda cans on it.

"Hey Marceline, you done smelling the paper, huh?"

Now that she had Simon's address, Marceline was beginning to feel a desperation to leave the Ice Kingdom, similar to claustrophobia. She pushed past him, frantically and flew to the top of the mountain, as fast as she could.

"Hey! Wait up!" Simon cried after her. "What's the hurry?"

Marceline tore through Simon's living space. In the past, she had run away from dragons with less urgency. Simon caught up with her, just before she flew out of the door.

"Hey, where ya going Marceline?" He asked her. "I've got some board games if you want to hang out?"

Marceline rounded on him, tears beginning to well in her eyes again. "Just… leave me alone, Ice King! I _never_ want to see you again!"

Before he could respond, Marceline repositioned her umbrella and flew from the Ice Kingdom as fast as she could.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry this update took a while. I've kind of got a lot going on right now, and to be honest, I'm not terribly inspired to finish this particular story. But finish it I shall, just bear with me. ^_^**

* * *

The Ice King's maniacal laughter echoed around Marceline's head as she flew from the Ice Kingdom as fast as she could. Fate could be horribly cruel, Marceline realised as she flew. She knew that nothing short of Simon biting the dust would ever make her accept that he was gone, so it was ironic really, that both of them were immortal. Marceline shuddered at the concept of the Ice King haunting her for all of eternity. She was bound to put a stake in her own heart after a millennium or two…

Once the Ice Kingdom was completely out of sight, Marceline slowed down and studied the electricity bill Gunter had given her. The address didn't make any sense to her, she had never even heard of most of the places it listed. She vaguely recognised the name of the city, from Simon mentioning it a couple of times back in the day, but that hardly helped her. Of course, Bubblegum would undoubtedly have the equipment to track down the address in seconds, but obviously, that wasn't an option.

Marceline frowned. Was she making this way too difficult on herself? Maybe she really should just apologise to Bubblegum. Then, if she didn't forgive her, she could help her out with finding the Enchiridion. Marceline considered it for a minute, but at the end of the day, it just wasn't her style. Besides, Marceline had a tonne of reasons to track down the Enchiridion for herself. If Simon had recovered it, it must have been wicked cool, plus, she loved the idea of seeing Simon's old home. She had asked him about it when she was a child, and he had said that he would show her if they ever found themselves in the city where he had lived, but they never did.

Marceline sighed, it was a lot of trouble she was going through, just to avoid saying 'I'm sorry', but she had always been more comfortable saying things with actions than words, anyway. Besides, with vampires more or less extinct, Marceline was in need of a new adventure.

Redirecting her attention to the problem at hand, Marceline began to race through everyone she knew and the resources at their disposal. There was still Simon, but even if he _wasn't _a sociopathic child with the attention span of a twig, locating addresses wasn't amongst of the crown's handful of non ice-related powers. Plus, there was the whole 'I never want to see you again!' issue. She could always sneak into Bubblegum's lab and hypnotise someone into helping her again, but using Bubblegum's equipment kind of defied the point of Marceline making up with her. Also, she'd already risked getting caught sneaking around PB's lab once, she wasn't crazy about doing it again.

Marceline floated down underneath a tree, sat cross-legged in the air and pouted irritably. All that left was Ash, and if _he_ was going to be helpful with this, then… well… it would be a first for Ash. If anything, he wouldn't rest until he'd sabotaged any relationship she might have with Bubblegum. Even if he wasn't too dense to see that his relationship with Marceline was as good as dead, he certainly wasn't above spite and petty revenge.

Marceline sighed. She dearly wished she had never agreed to go out with Ash. He had brought her nothing but grief. As she dwelled on him, a sudden lightning bolt of realisation hit her. Ash's address book! How had she not thought of that until now? Ash kept track of his roaming, partying friends by writing their names in a magic address book, which would then lead him to them. There was every chance that, with the address, it would lead her to Simon's apartment… what was left of it, anyway.

* * *

Ash slouched on the couch in his house, watching TV. He was still recovering from the previous day's party. After he had watched Marceline flee from Bubblegum's bedroom, he had smugly convinced himself that he had scared Marceline away from her. Although he was, in fact, far too dense to notice that he was dead to Marceline and firmly believed that she was still into him, he _was_ irritated by how little he had seen her since she found the Candy Kingdom.

Suddenly, the door flew open and Marceline floated across the room and into Ash's bedroom, without a word.

"Hey Mar-Mar, wait up!" He called, scrambling to his feet. "You've hardly been here lately! This morning I had to make my own breakfast!" He complained, sounding like Marceline had massacred his family.

"Shut up Ash, I'm busy…" Marceline muttered, opening up one of Ash's bags and tipping out the contents.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Ash protested.

Marceline rounded on him. "Ash, I need your address book. Where is it?"

"What? You can't have it…" He said, decisively. But for a split second, his eyes flicked over to a rotten chest of draws in the corner of the room, telling Marceline everything she wanted to know.

Marceline flew over to the chest of draws and retrieved the book, seconds later, but as soon as she did, it vanished into thin air. Ash reached up and snatched the book as it rematerialized in front of him.

"Babe, you don't need my address book! It's almost lunchtime! You can find the kitchen without it!"

Boiling with rage, Marceline shot forwards and punched Ash as hard as she could. Ash was unconscious before Marceline's fist even disconnected with his face. She caught the book before it hit the ground and left Ash to collapse where he stood.

"Jerk…" She muttered to him.

Marceline swore to herself that the next conversation she had with him would be her dumping his chauvinistic butt. And she would have that conversation just as soon as she found the Enchiridion. That probably wasn't stalling for time, Marceline reasoned. She _did_ punch pretty hard after all, so Ash would probably be out for a while.

She pulled the electricity bill out of her pocket, opened the book to a fresh page and began to write out Simon's old address. Once it was down, Marceline looked around expectantly. After a couple of seconds, she patted the back of the book, like a TV remote with loose batteries. She opened the book to Simon's address. After a nervous glance left and right, she tapped the page a few times.

"Erm… this one?" She asked the book, uncertainly.

Suddenly, the book was enveloped with golden light, and a tiny, golden thread shot from it, though Ash's living room and out his front door. Marceline followed it through the house and looked out of the door, to see the beam arching off over the horizon.

"Oh…" Marceline mumbled. "That'll do…"


	8. Chapter 8

Marceline had never travelled over great distances before, when tracking vampires she would mostly just jump from one town to the next, and as a result, she never had a real impression of just how big the world really was. She had been soaring through the skies in search of Simon's apartment for two days straight, and she was beginning to feel incredibly foolish. Marceline had hoped that her trip would take for a couple of hours at most, and that she'd have the Enchiridion in the Candy Kingdom before PB went to bed.

Marceline felt a surge of guilt as she thought of Bubblegum, what must she have been thinking? She had had a heated row with Bubblegum, and then vanished completely without another word to her. Had Marceline been in her position, she would be terrified that Bubblegum wasn't going to come back.

Despite how exhausted she was, Marceline put on an extra burst of speed. She hated herself for being so stupid and proud. Had Bubblegum been there, Marceline would have just apologised to her in an instant. She had found herself wishing in hindsight awfully often as of late. She made a mental note to spend more time thinking things through in the future. Since she was immortal and near enough indestructible, Marceline could afford to be as reckless and irresponsible as she wanted when it came to fighting vampires, but when it came to social or romantic situations, she was no different to anyone else. The damage she did to relationships took a lot longer to heal than regular wounds did.

Suddenly, Marceline squinted along the golden beam coming off the address book and into the distance. She broke into a broad grin. Further ahead, the beam arched downwards and into the ground. She had finally arrived! A second later though, Marceline's delight was replaced by confusion. Marceline was floating over a grassy plain, which stretched as far as the eye could see. There were no ruins here, no city. Simon's apartment had been in a colossal metropolis, and 350 years simply wasn't enough time for one of those to vanish without a trace. Dread consumed Marceline as she realised that she might have wasted the last two days.

Marceline floated across the grass idly, pondering her next options, and as she did, she noticed something. When Marceline moved, the place where the beam of light hit the grass moved with her, constantly pointing almost straight downwards. Marceline instantly realised what that meant. She hadn't arrived yet, the address book was still pointing her towards Simon's apartment, but it was underground!

Marceline sighed, Simon's apartment _definitely_ hadn't been underground, but having already spent two days getting to wherever she was, she figured it was at least worth a look. She dropped to the ground and transformed into a miniscule bat creature, clutched the book between her bony, torn wings and started to dig. The ground was very soft so it was easy work for Marceline's powerful limbs, even in her smaller form.

Around five minutes later, Marceline was making steady progress. The sunlight from the surface had long since vanished into darkness behind her, but the steady glow of the address book reassured her that she was going the right way. Marceline wasn't sure what she was expecting to find down there. A bomb shelter? An old subway station? She knew for a fact that Simon had never lived in either of those, besides which, she was far too deep. Maybe the book had messed up, and it was taking her to some ancient cavern or tomb that Simon had slept in during an expedition. Pushing those thoughts to the back of her head and wishing for the best, Marceline dug on.

Eventually, Marceline struck something solid, like stone. She made the same digging, scratching motion she had been using for a few seconds, then switched to punching, and soon after, she broke through. Marceline's stomach flipped over as, to her surprise, she fell through the hole she'd made and into a small air pocket. There was pitch-blackness all around Marceline. All she could see was the faint, golden glow from the address book. Even her keen night-vision was no help to her. The floor, although mostly flat, seemed to be angled slightly.

Marceline reverted to her usual form very slowly, then got to her feet and breathed a sigh of relief as she found out that she could stand up straight. With a snap of Marceline's fingers, a group of tiny, fiery wisps sparked into life and began to orbit her, illuminating the room with their dancing flames. As Marceline's eyes adjusted, her mouth hung open in shock.

There… one hundred feet beneath an empty field in the middle of nowhere, was a living room! The 300 year-old remains of one, anyway. In one corner, sat the shattered shell of a TV, in another, were several decomposing blobs that were once a sofa and chairs. On one of the walls, there was a large window frame, without so much as a shard of glass. A large mound of soil was piled up against it.

Suddenly, Marceline heard a loud crack, and she looked up to see fractures running across the ceiling from the hole she had made. A large chunk of soil fell through the ceiling and smashed through the rotten floorboards like they were very thin ice. With soil still raining down, Marceline quickly flew from the room and slammed the door behind her. The entire building gave a mighty groan that sent shivers up Marceline's spine. The beam of light still shining from the book told Marceline that this wasn't Simon's apartment, and something told her that she wanted to find the Enchiridion and get back to the surface as soon as possible. Marceline followed the beam of light into a long corridor, lined with doors with numbers on them, and she suddenly realised she was in a huge apartment building. The windows at each end of the corridor were also full of soil.

Marceline knew what must have happened here. She had seen it once before, on a much smaller scale. When she was ten, she and Simon had discovered an enormous field of churned up soil, with just the tops of skyscrapers poking out, like sinking ships. When a dumbstruck Marceline asked what had happened, Simon had gingerly explained that, in some places, the cataclysm from the bombs had been so great that the ground itself had opened up and buildings, even whole cities had sunk into the earth. It must have been so bad here, that the entire city was simply swallowed whole. At least it meant Simon's apartment had been preserved. If it had been destroyed, then there was no guarantee the book would have been able to find it.

Marceline swept through the winding corridors, occasionally having to squeeze through a mound of dirt, or cut through a hole in a wall. All the while, the sensitive building groaned in protest to the strange intruder who had disturbed the three century-long tranquillity. Marceline dived down the middle of a spiral staircase and levelled out close to what she guessed was the bottom of the building. She darted along a corridor and came to a stop outside apartment number 37, the same number on the electricity bill. The golden trail stopped at the door, and the book stopped glowing as she approached it.

So this was it, Simon Petrikov's home. Butterflies filled Marceline's stomach. She almost considered knocking, despite how pointless that would be. She reached out and jumped as, as soon as her fingers rested on the doorknob, the door simply fell of its rusted hinges and fell inwards with a crash. Nervously, Marceline floated across the threshold and was immediately overcome with nostalgia. Despite the decrepit state the apartment was in, Marceline recognised several parts of it from Simon's pictures. The pile of wooden shards by the window that was his antique cupboard. The shrivelled, grey lump in the alcove that was a luxurious sofa.

As Marceline looked around the room excitedly, she didn't notice the temperature in the already rather cold room begin to drop slightly. Mist began to seep across the floor. Suddenly, a sound finally caught Marceline's attention. It was the all too familiar sound of ice crystals rapidly forming. She spun around to see that, in the corner of the room, the source of the unusual cold and mist, a small pile of ice was beginning to climb towards the ceiling. As it grew, it became more defined, the bottom split into two distinct legs, it sprouted arms and its torso gained the detail of a shirt and blazer. It grew a head with shaggy hair and a beard, and circular glasses perched on its nose.

Simon Petrikov took a couple of steps forwards and stared blindly. He spoke with a quiet, echoed voice, as if he were shouting from the other side of a vast cave.

"Marceline?"

* * *

**Could an earthquake really swallow up an entire city? Of course not, that's ridiculous. But it's a fanfic based on a cartoon, so roll with it.**


	9. Chapter 9

"Simon?" Marceline barely whispered, not daring to hope that it could be him.

Sure enough, the icy, spectral image of Marceline's former best friend showed no sign of having heard her, and a second later, his distorted voice returned.

"I'm losing the fight, Marceline. I've started to see and hear myself when I change, but I'm unable to control what I do. It's like I'm trapped in another man's head. I know I don't have long, so I'm using the crown's psychic capabilities to project this message. If it doesn't go straight to you, then my best guess is that you'll find it in my old apartment, the place where I first put on the crown. I don't know how, or why you'd ever end up there, but I sincerely hope that you do, because I need you to know… I'm sorry Marceline…"

Marceline sighed. She had never been angry at Simon, far from it. His apology was meaningless to her and brought her little comfort. She floated around the room, poking idly at the rotten furniture as Simon spoke.

"I don't know what you must think of me now, Marceline, but I can't help but feel I let you down. Maybe if I'd been a better man, I wouldn't have had to be a 'King of Ice and Snow' to protect you."

Marceline spun around in shock. Icy tears had formed in the corners of Simon's eyes. Had he thought that she had hated him for leaving? Resented his choice to wear the crown? She floated over to him and placed a hand on the image's shoulder.

"Oh Simon… You moron…" She whispered, sadly.

"When you hear this, I think it's a safe bet that there'll be nothing left of me." Simon continued. "And I want you to remember that, because when I used to put on the crown, I was always in there, influencing my own actions, even if it was only slightly. The point is that I would never hurt you… but I can't promise the same for… him. Just stay away from me, Marcy. I'm no good for you anymore…" Simon's voice shook slightly and he stared at his feet.

It was getting painful for Marceline to listen. She desperately wanted to find the Enchiridion and leave, but it was Simon's last wish that she'd hear these words, so that meant she would.

"I taught you how to survive, Marceline, and I think you're going to be ok. But I don't just want you to survive, I want you to be happy. I know this is a lot to ask of you, but I want you to find someone… just don't be alone. I know our circumstances were beyond extraordinary, me being the owner of a magic crown, and you being a half-demon from another dimension." He chuckled weakly. Marceline had never been sure whether or not Simon had believed her when she had told him that. "But those things opened up my mind to a universe of possibilities, so I refuse to believe that no one else survived the war." He paused for a while. "So find someone who makes you happy… and don't let them go…" Simon whispered sadly.

Marceline frowned at that last comment, it sounded like a warning based on Simon's own life. Was he talking about letting Marceline go? No, that didn't make sense… Simon had never liked to talk about his personal life, before the war.

Suddenly, Simon winced and gasped in pain, like he had a migraine. "I'm sorry Marceline, I think I have less time than I thought. I had some other things I wanted to say, but the main thing I want you to know is just how grateful I am. You might not realise this, but you did far more for me than I ever did for you. The time we spent together were the happiest days of my life…"

Simon cried out in pain as, with a gleam of blue light, the crown slowly materialised on his head. He began breathing rapidly.

"And… I wouldn't have changed it for the world…"

Simon's beard and nose elongated, as it used to when he wore the crown. He squinted his wide, milky white eyes in immense concentration.

"I love you Marceline..."

His cries of anguish and pain returned, but slowly, they were replaced with a maniacal cackle. The Ice King's laughter wasn't deterred as cracks ran along the icy figure and he slowly crumbled to the floor in a pile of snow and mist. It echoed around the apartment for a solid minute after the Ice King's image crumbled.

Shaken by the experience overall, Marceline sat down on the floor. She had never dreamed that she'd hear Simon's voice again, and for a fleeting moment, it felt like he was there with her again, but now, as she sat in the thin layer of snow covering the floor of his apartment, cruel reality had settled back in.

Simon hadn't really told Marceline much she didn't already know, although if she wasn't already sure about apologising to Bubblegum, she certainly was now. What _had_ surprised her was that Simon had been grateful of _her_. Of course, she knew Simon had loved her, but there had been several occasions, back in the day, when Marceline had felt guilty for slowing Simon down. She had never said anything, of course.

After a couple of minutes, Marceline lethargically lifted into the air and left the room, slowly floating around the apartment in search of the Enchiridion. Simon hadn't been boasting when he had said his apartment was large, there were several rooms for Marceline to search through. Some of them were still just about identifiable, like bathrooms and bedrooms, while some of them had decomposed to the point where Marceline had no idea what they once were.

Eventually, Marceline found what she assumed to have been Simon's bedroom. She floated in slowly and found herself painting a mental imagine of how it once must have looked. She could just picture a clean-shaven Simon getting out of his large, double bed in the morning and gazing out at the bustling city on the other side of the bay windows. She thought enviously of the normal life Simon must have had, back before civilisation collapsed. Marceline fantasised about a world in which Simon had found Marceline, lost and abandoned, not in crumbling ruins, but in a thriving, crowded street. How he could have paid for Hambo and taken her back to his apartment with him to live a safe, happy life. She's have gone to school, made friends, maybe had a girlfriend before she was 300 years old…

Marceline shook the images out of her head. Simon wanted her to be happy, and not to dwell on how much happier she could have been. Right now she had a wonderful woman in her life and she needed to focus on securing that so she didn't lose her, just like Simon had said. Marceline quickly flew from the room and continued her search, and, moments later, she found what she was looking for.

Tucked away at the back of the apartment, was an average-sized room, lined with bookcases, glass cabinets and podiums, all housing artefacts and relics that had, by definition, stood the test of time. There were busts and jewellery, paintings and weapons, and right at the back, on a waist high table, was the Enchiridion.

Marceline felt another wave of nostalgia as she gazed at Simon legacy, but, having wasted more than enough time, Marceline pushed it to the back of her mind and, with an excited giggle, floated across the room to the ancient book. She carefully opened the book and began to look through it. It was in amazingly good condition. Despite her rush, it was just common sense to inspect the Enchiridion, after all, it would be terrible if she returned to the Candy Kingdom with a decoy for deterring thieves.

Marceline flicked through the Enchiridion with great interest. It seemed to be everything from a reference guide, to a spell book, and even, on a few pages, a recipe book. Sure enough, there were scores of pages on inspiring bravery and heroism. There was also a section on portals, mostly to places Marceline had never heard of, like the Time Room and Lumpy Space. There was also one that supposedly took one to hell itself, and another that led to… the Nightosphere? Marceline had _way_ too much on her plate to even begin to deal with that possibility, so she abruptly tore out the page and pocketed it.

A few minutes later, Marceline was just about ready to pick up the book and leave, when she came across a page that made her shoot backwards across the room in shock. Slowly, she eased herself back towards the book, and double-checked the title of the page. Sure enough, it read 'How to Kiss a Princess'. Blushing furiously, Marceline studied the section. It went into great detail, and every step was paired with a picture of a beautiful girl wearing a tiara and a blank silhouette of a person, enacting the current instructions. Blushing even harder, Marceline looked around the still empty room, and slowly raised her hands and put them on the sides of an imaginary Bonnibel's face. Constantly referring to the book, Marceline moved her head and tongue, surprised to find how natural it felt.

"Marceline!?"

Marceline spun around in terror, screaming loudly as she did. Standing in the gallery's doorway, wearing a radiation suit with a white, gun-like device mounted to the right arm, was Princess Bubblegum.

* * *

**Awkward...**


	10. Chapter 10

"Bonnie! I mean… Bonnibel… Princess!" Marceline babbled, somewhat overcome with shock and embarrassment at what she'd been doing, as if she'd been caught reading Bubblegum's diary.

"Marceline! What happened to you? I was so worried!" Bubblegum said, the concern in her voice completely overcoming any surprise or confusion.

Immediately, Marceline darted across the room and wrapped her arms around Princess Bubblegum, taking her by surprise. "I'm sorry Princess! I've been a real jerk the last few days and I'm sorry for all of it!"

Marceline dearly wished that Bubblegum wasn't wearing her radiation suit, she longed to feel the Princess' soft, warm skin against her own. As if she had read Marceline's mind, Princess Bubblegum studied a display on a small monitor, attached to her wrist, over Marceline's shoulder.

"Radiation levels seem ok…" She mumbled, then stepped away from Marceline and pressed down on the display, causing her suit to disassemble and collapse to the floor in a dozen pieces, revealing a pink and purple tracksuit underneath.

Bubblegum stepped forwards and wrapped an arm around Marceline's shoulders and gently stroked her head with her other hand.

"That's ok Marceline, I was kinda snippy too. I shouldn't have yelled at you, or kicked you out of my room…"

With her head resting on Bubblegum's neck, Marceline hugged the Princess' torso. The two girls stood silently, for several minutes, in each other's arms, saying more with their intimacy than they ever could with words. Bubblegum's forgiveness was soothing on Marceline's emotionally exhausted soul.

Eventually, Princess Bubblegum's curiosity caught up with her. "Sweetie, what are you doing down here?"

It made Marceline's heart flutter, hearing PB call her 'Sweetie'. "I was just…" She turned round and screamed as she realised the Enchiridion was still open to the page on kissing princesses. She shot across the room and slammed it shut, and then picked it up. "I was just looking for this! For you! I… heard you wanted it…"

"Marceline… You came all this way just to get this for me?" She asked, warmly, tastefully ignoring Marceline's outburst.

"Hey, how'd you get here?" Marceline asked, although her delight at seeing her again meant she barely cared.

"The Enchiridion gives off a unique, but harmless kind of radiation. I used my equipment to get the coordinates, then came here with my portal device!" She picked up the white gun from the floor. "The portal's three floors up, you wanna go home?"

"Sure." Marceline smiled.

Bubblegum had barely turned around, when the building gave another creaking moan, far louder than before, and the floor beneath them trembled.

"Let's leave quickly." Bubblegum added.

"Uh-huh." Marceline abruptly agreed.

The two girls sprinted through Simon's apartment. In some places, the floor had begun to sag like melting plastic, and Marceline found herself seizing Bubblegum's hand, in case it gave way beneath her. They ran out into the hallway, or rather, the gaping chasm it had become. In the five minutes Bubblegum had spent in Simon's apartment, the floor of the corridor right outside had given way, and the surrounding apartments were beginning to crumble and fall into the pit that had become of the lower floors. It was like the building was rotting from the ground up.

Immediately, Marceline pushed the Enchiridion into Bubblegum's hands, forcing her to cradle it and her portal device, and swept her off her feet. With Bubblegum in her arms, Marceline darted through the collapsing ruins, zipping left and right as boulders of dirt and rubble came smashing through the building above her. She didn't know how Bubblegum's portals worked, but she hoped they didn't rely on the rooms they were in being in too good shape.

Marceline flew into the stairwell and was about to fly up, when she froze in horror. The spiral staircase was imploding. A cloud of dust, accompanied with boulders of debris, raged down towards them, like some gigantic ghoul. Marceline dived out of the way just in time, but the cataclysm followed them. The entire building was getting sucked towards the stairs as the pressure of the soil outside crushed it like a tin can. Marceline dived and twirled and darted between the flying wreckage, showing aerial finesse that would have been breathtaking if she and the Princess weren't already holding their breaths in terrified anxiety.

Eventually, Marceline ran out of places to run. The advancing walls of dirt closed in on the two girls like a fire. Dropping the two objects in her hands, Bubblegum squeezed Marceline as hard as she could and quickly kissed her on the lips.

"Marceline! I love you!" She shouted over the din.

"I love you too, Bonnie." Marceline solemnly replied, returning her hug.

As the two of them floated in each other's embrace, the last remnants of Simon's apartment building collapsed on top of them.

* * *

Marceline didn't need air to survive, or anything for that matter. She had once starved herself of red for two months, just as an experiment. All that had happened was she got _really_ grouchy. The point was, she wasn't worried for herself. Her fear was purely for Bubblegum's sake.

Bubblegum wasn't so hardy. She needed air and food to survive just like anyone else, anyone except Marceline of course. In many ways, she was far superior to ordinary mortals, but those weren't two of them. As the walls collapsed around her, she genuinely feared for her own life, but not nearly as much as she worried about her people and Marceline.

"Marceline…? Sweetie…? Are you ok?" Bubblegum coughed between mouthfuls of dirt.

At the last second, Marceline had transformed into a giant, hairy bat creature and shielded the Princess. The soil had rained down around them both and a huge slab of plaster was pressing down on the Vampire Queen's back. Neither of them could move, but, with a Herculean effort, Marceline was able to push against the mass of soil with enough force to stop Bubblegum from being crushed.

"Been… better…" Marceline grunted through her razor sharp teeth, which were ground together in immense concentration.

Bubblegum's eyes raced around, the fiery wisps Marceline had summoned earlier were still floating around her head, giving them both a perfect view of their soil coffin. Bubblegum reluctantly realised that she didn't do her best work under pressure. She was used to sitting at her desk with a cup of hot chocolate while she tackled a problem, but three days after her reunion with Marceline, that had suddenly stopped being an option.

PB could feel her portal device jabbing into her back, but even if she could reach it, she could only project a portal onto a flat surface. Plus, when the building collapsed, the link would have been severed, so she'd need to input the Candy Kingdom's coordinates, something else she didn't have to hand.

Marceline was using what little concentration she could spare to race through ideas too. In her smaller bat form, she could easily tunnel to safety, but if she started digging as she was now, Bubblegum would either be suffocated by soil or crushed. There was always the portal guide in the Enchiridion, which was stuck between the girls' shins, but the only instructions Marceline had studied long enough to memorize were the ones for the Nightosphere portal. And while she'd gladly confront her father if it meant saving the Princess, she didn't have any bug juice or anything to draw a smiley face with.

Bubblegum started to cough and choke as their tiny pocket of air slowly depleted. Marceline frantically cursed her own negligence. If she had only studied the Enchiridion a little more extensively, there was bound to be a portal that only needed an incantation. Suddenly, Marceline knew exactly what to do. Shifting her focus to her telekinetic capabilities, Marceline mentally dragged the Enchiridion upwards, squeezing it through the miniscule gap between the two girls. Marceline tried to scrape the coarse, leather cover against herself as much as possible, as opposed to the Princess. Eventually, it was between their heads, the front cover practically pressing against Bubblegum's face.

"Marce…line… what…?" Bubblegum wheezed weakly.

"Hang in there, Bonnie!" Marceline begged, then pressed her giant, hairy lips together as she realized talking would use up the air.

As fast as she could, Marceline tore off the Enchiridion's cover with her powers. With no time or room to turn the pages, Marceline shredded them away, a dozen at a time, having to guess roughly where the section on portals began. As she approached it, Marceline slowed down slightly, studying Bubblegum's eyes, waiting for some sort of sign. Eventually, Bubblegum's expression showed shock and hope, and Marceline abruptly stopped.

Bubblegum opened her mouth and coughed feebly. "S… Sum…" She tried. Her eyes began to flicker and close.

With a surge of effort, Marceline pushed back against the dirt, and then shrank back to her normal size. As fast as she could, she tore out the page PB was looking at, wrapped her spare arm around her, and, as the soil engulfed them, cried,

"SUMMA VOLARET IN CAELUM!"

* * *

**Believe it or not, I wrote the thing about Marceline starving herself before I saw Red Starved. And you know what? I'm gonna go ahead and call that a win. Even if "grouchy" is a wee bit of an understatement.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Whaaa? Two chapters at a time? Why, you ask? Because I freaking love you guys, that's why. And because I'm sorry I made you wait. Enjoy!**

* * *

Since Marceline had tunnelled into the ground, not a single noise or movement had disturbed the vast meadow that concealed the ancient ruins. Since then, night had fallen and the air was still, but in the course of a few seconds, that changed. High above the grass, blue sparks began to crackle, and they were immediately followed by an explosion of dirt, a blizzard of paper and the materialization of two girls.

Marceline fell helplessly from the sky, just like Bubblegum, completely disorientated by the flash that had accompanied the spell. As the glaring light left her eyes and her vision returned, she realized what was happening. Marceline swept over to Bubblegum as fast as she could and plucked her from the air. She slowed her descent as gently as possible as she carried the Princess to the ground.

"Bonnibel…? Are you ok?" She asked, quietly.

Bubblegum's face and clothes were covered in dirt and grime, and her hair was fanned out behind her, like a squashed lump of play dough. She was barely recognisable as her usual, prissy self.

Suddenly, Bubblegum doubled over and went into a coughing fit. Sticking out her tongue, she visibly drooled as she tried to get all the soil out of her mouth. Turning around, she noticed Marceline standing behind her, relief on her smiling face. Bubblegum stood up and hugged her.

"Thanks Marcy, you totally saved me!"

Slowly, the shredded scraps of the Enchiridion began to drift down all around them, like snow.

"Sorry about your book, Bonnie." Marceline apologised, genuinely sorry that she had had to tear it up.

Suddenly, the pages of the book began to twitch in the air, as if they were coming to life. They began to fly like birds, flapping and rustling their way to a singular spot, a couple of feet above the ground. The pages blew against one another, slowly reassembling until there was a clear mass of pages, snapping up the others like a hungry dog. The leather cover rolled along the grass, pushing past Marceline's leg as it went, and before long, the Enchiridion was in perfect condition once more.

Marceline felt a squirming against her thigh, and looked down to see the page she had ripped out, wriggling its way out of her pocket. It floated gracefully across the grass, like a paper aeroplane, and the Enchiridion came to life one last time, to snatch it out of the air. It was no wonder the book had lasted this long.

"Oh." Marceline said.

With her eyes on the Enchiridion, Marceline didn't notice PB as she stood behind the Vampire Queen and wrapped her arms around her.

"Hey Marceline?" She said softly. "Do you think we can forget about the last three days and just try again?"

Marceline turned around and smiled. "I'd like that."

Bubblegum leant forwards to kiss Marceline, but Marceline put her hand on the Princess' chest and gently pushed her back.

"But this time, I'm gonna get it right."

* * *

Marceline raced around Ash's shack with a broad grin on her face. She had a large backpack slung over her shoulder and she was stuffing all of her clothes and other personal effects into it. She and Bonnie were finally going to be together! She could barely contain her giddy excitement. Ash hadn't been in when Marceline arrived, but that was probably for the best. This way she could just dump him and take her leave, instead of having to pack as fast as she could to escape the sheer awkwardness.

Princess Bubblegum had offered Marceline one of the many rooms in her Royal Palace… and then, blushing slightly, had suggested that they share _her_ room. It was tempting, but one of the things dating Ash had taught Marceline, was that she needed her independence. Plus, although she loved Bonnibel like crazy, she had no great love for her taste in decoration. The simple fact was that she and Bonnibel had very different styles.

A few weeks ago, Marceline and Ash had moved into an enormous tree fort together, which wasn't too far away from the Candy Kingdom. She'd settle in there and make it her own, and if Ash didn't want her to take it? Well, he could just bite her fist.

As Marceline stuffed the last of her jeans into her backpack, she began to worry. She had found almost everything, except Hambo. Of all her possessions, that rancid teddy bear was the one thing she actually cared about even in the slightest. And as it happened, she loved him a _lot_.

She flew into Ash's bedroom and began lifting up the furniture and shaking out all of their contents. She turned the shack upside down, but there was no sign of the bear. Marceline's heart froze as she remembered her last encounter with Ash. Could she honestly say Ash was above petty revenge? And against someone he still considered his girlfriend no less? Of course she couldn't, but Hambo? Ash knew full well how much she loved Hambo, even he wouldn't stoop that low. Marceline frowned as she tried to convince herself that that was true.

She picked up an armchair off the middle of the floor, put it down the right way up, and collapsed into it. She wondered what she was going to do when Ash arrived. As usual when Marceline faced a problem, the first solution she considered was to kill him immediately, but then, of course, she ran the risk of never finding out where Hambo was. Plus, there was every chance that Ash hadn't taken Hambo at all, and some random critter had just wondered into the shack and made off with him for no good reason. That was perfectly possible, there were some really weird creatures roaming around these days.

She could always tie him to a chair and interrogate him, like the tough, no nonsense cops did in the movies she had seen from time to time, but she had tried that before with vampires on several occasions, and she had always lost her temper and killed them without getting any information.

Eventually, Marceline decided to postpone her break up with Ash, and play along with his likely delusion that they were still together, just long enough to find out where Hambo was. Suddenly, all her joyous plans of what she had wanted to do with Bubblegum when she returned to the Candy Kingdom evaporated and were replaced with the far more likely scenario of her weeping into the Princess' lap in mourning of her lost treasure.

Suddenly, Marceline heard the familiar whooshing noise of Ash materialising outside, and she pushed those thoughts to the back of her head. She tried her best to look neutral, rather than anxious, terrified or livid, despite the fact that she was all three.

The door swung open and Ash walked in. In his hand, he held a small cherry blossom. If he was surprised to see that Marceline was back, he didn't show it. Marceline suspected that the lack of food was the only thing he had noticed.

"Oh, hey Mar-Mar. Look at this, check it out, it's my new wand." He held the blossom out to her, she stood up and cautiously stepped over to him, planning her first move. "These cherry blossoms? Look, look as close as you can, they're real!"

Still unsure of how to bring up Hambo (and somewhat afraid to), Marceline inspected the wand. She reached out to it, and a tiny jolt of electricity jumped from it, to her finger.

"Wow… Awesome. Where'd you get the money for that thing?" She asked, not remotely caring. Ash had often returned from the Wizard City, angrily complaining about the cost of wands.

"Oh… I sold that teddy bear you love so much… to a witch."

Ash's words hit Marceline like a tonne of bricks. There it was. Hambo was gone, and Ash's reign of destruction on the last month of her life was utterly complete.

"You what? Are you crazy? That was my favourite thing in the whole world!" Marceline cried, desperate for Ash to be messing with her.

"That's why it's so valuable, genius! For potions!" Ash sneered. His enjoyment at Marceline's despair oozed from every syllable.

He waved his wand and a tiny ghost drifted from the blossoms, and jeered, "You're not… a genius! You're not… a genius!"

Tears welled up in Marceline's eyes. The fact that she was finally completely free of Ash offered her little comfort in the absence of Hambo.

"That's the last straw Ash! That's it! You're a psycho jerk, and you ruined my life!"

"But… Not all of it!" Ash protested.

Marceline could barely believe her ears. Was Ash seriously defending himself? Did he honestly believe that selling Hambo would teach Marceline a lesson that _didn't _result in her ditching his sorry butt?

"IT'S OVER YOU PSYCHO!" She screamed at him, and, without even picking up her backpack, she stomped from the shack.

As soon as she slammed the door behind her, Marceline burst into tears. She lifted into the air and flew as fast as she could. The last thing she wanted was for Ash to hear her cry. Hambo had meant more to Marceline than anyone, even Bonnibel would ever understand. When Simon had gone, he hadn't even left a body, and now she didn't even have a disgusting, mouldy old teddy bear to remember him by. With Hambo gone, it finally felt like Simon was gone too… and it hurt.

* * *

It had started to rain. Bubblegum raced around her bedroom in a panic, ignoring the steady pitter-patter against her windows. She reached across her bed and straightened the blankets with impeccable neatness. Once Marceline had dropped Bubblegum off at the Candy Kingdom and left to collect her belongings, she had gotten to work tidying her room for Marceline's sake. Although Marceline had turned down Bubblegum's offer to move in with her, Bubblegum still held hope that she'd change her mind.

Since she was so tidy anyway, it hadn't taken Bubblegum very long to neaten her bedroom, but as soon as she did, it occurred to her that the woman she was trying to impress was a rebellious bad girl. As soon as she realised that, Bubblegum had immediately gone on a rampage, messing her room up again. She then decided that she hated it and couldn't possibly let Marceline see her bedroom that way.

This had gone back and forth and Bubblegum was in the process of tidying her bedroom for the fifth time, when a quiet knock on the window cut through the sound of the rain.

"Ahhh!" Bubblegum panicked quietly. She scooped up an armful of pyjamas and bundled them into a cupboard haphazardly.

Walking over to the window, Bubblegum patted her hair down and put on her warmest smile. As soon as she opened it, Marceline flew in and hugged the Princess without a word. Bubblegum instantly knew that Marceline wasn't just being friendly, something was wrong. Marceline had returned without her belongings, her face was flushed and streaked with tears, as well as rain, and she visibly trembled as she wept into the Princess' shoulder.

"Sweetie, what happened? What's wrong?" Bubblegum asked, returning Marceline's hug with one hand and wiping soaking wet hair out of her face with the other.

Marceline only replied with more tears, so the Princess led her over to her bed, where she sat down and let Marceline lie next to her, with her head on her lap.

"Peppermint Butler!" She called, making Marceline jump.

Peppermint Butler came crashing through the door before PB had even finished saying his name. "Y…yes Princess!" He squeaked.

"We're gonna need some fluffy towels, some… black pyjamas and a cup of cocoa, stat!"

"Of course Princess! Very good Princess!" He jabbered, as he backed out of the room.

"Oh. In a red mug!" She called after him.

After Peppermint Butler had left, Bubblegum immediately returned her attention to Marceline. Oblivious to the tears and rainwater that were soaking her clean dress, Bubblegum stroked Marceline's hair and silently allowed her to cry, not pressing Marceline to tell her what was wrong, or presuming everything would be all right.

Peppermint Butler returned a moment later, with the things Bubblegum had asked for piled high on his arms. PB unapologetically snapped at him to put them down on her desk and leave, which he did, with a terrified squeal.

"Bonnie?" Marceline eventually said, between sobs.

"Yeah Marcy?"

"Can I stay here a little while?"

Bubblegum mentally criticised herself for feeling happy that Marceline had changed her mind. But she couldn't deny that she was overjoyed. She leant down and gently kissed Marceline's tear-stricken cheek.

"Sweat heart, you can stay here as long as you want."

Marceline smiled weakly. "I love you, Bonnie."

Hating herself for feeling so indescribably happy, Bubblegum replied, "I love you too, Marceline."


End file.
